Unspoken
by El loopy
Summary: A threeshot dedicated to my favourite pairing, Jane and Neil. A couple who seemed to have so much potential. Set during the movie.
1. Chapter 1

Unspoken

**This is one of the hardest things I've ever written and even now I'm rather reluctant to upload it. Its probably full of loads of mistakes and the like. Ah well. This chapter is set during the movie, you'll know at what point once you start reading. I've taken a bit of poetic license here. I haven't seen any of the movie extras so I've no idea whether some of this is accurate. **

**Disclaimer: Not mine**

Chapter 1: The capsule

"What are you doing Captain?" Ryan asked seeing Gray inside an electrics box. They were in one of the stations inside barrier city. Capsules carrying passengers coasted back and forth along various tracks. Ryan looked down at the steal cabinet that his Captain had stuck his head inside.

Gray emerged with a grin on his face. "Nothing."

Ryan folded his arms. "It looks to me like you're tampering with the transport's power." He jabbed his finger across at the small capsule like compartment travelling slowly away from them. Gray answered by disappearing back into the box. "Merely returning the favour."

Ryan looked at the rapidly disappearing transport and back to Gray. "Who's in there?"

"Jane and Neil," came the muffled reply.

"Are you sure trapping them together is such a good idea?"

Gray emerged again and raised his eyebrows at Ryan. "Am I the only one who can see that they both like each other?"

Ryan thought about this for a minute and then he smiled. "Jane's going to kill you."

Gray shrugged. "You guys did it to me…" he caught Ryan's look. "Yeah. I know it was you who stopped that thing when I was up in it with Aki. I'm not stupid and even if I hadn't guessed it was you then your little smug smirks would've given it away."

"It worked then?" Ryan asked with a barely concealed smile.

Gray felt like clipping him over the head but he was on the floor and Ryan was taller than he was so he settled for rerouting the appropriate wire and standing up. A red light flashed to show that the capsule had ground to a halt somewhere in the tunnels.

"That should do it."

---------

Jane glared around at the capsule and pressed some of the buttons on the wall's control panel before slamming her fist against it with a growl.

"Damn Gray!" she snarled. "He did this deliberately."

Neil was leaning against the wall nonchalantly. "Hmmm…"

Jane glanced at him over her shoulder. "You can sort this out?"

"Nope. It's all controlled from outside. I'm afraid that we're stuck here till the guys at Central Control discover us or until Gray decides to let us go."

Jane muttered something and paced up the tiny room in two strides before turning back and sitting down roughly in one of the chairs.

"I hope the Commander gives him a yelling at for messing with the computer systems," she grumbled.

Neil tapped the wall gently, "Maybe I shouldn't have underestimated Gray's grasp of electronics…"

"You think?" Jane snipped back. She shook her head, "Of all the…this is for revenge isn't it? Should've seen it coming! 'Go on ahead' he says, 'I've just got to do something'…" Jane lapsed into a fuming silence.

Neil continued to stand. There were only two seats in the small travelling chamber and they weren't the most comfortable things to sit on. The walls were a silvery grey, lit up by the thin strip of fluorescent lighting that ran along the ceiling. Outside the Perspex windows everything was dark because they were in a tunnel. The automatic door had sealed itself and couldn't be opened without the electricity flow. There was a backup system to open it in an emergency, but it involved damaging the capsule and required a heck of a good excuse to do so. Therefore neither prisoner considered it an option.

"I can't believe…of all the people to be trapped in a capsule with!" Jane muttered.

"Hey! Why do you have such a problem with me?" Neil stepped into the middle of the capsule, gesturing angrily. "What have I done?"

Jane flared up and stood so she was directly in front of him. "I'm stuck in a transport with the engineer of the team, who can't reroute the power and get us moving again!" Her voice dropped to an accusing whisper, and her eyes never leaving his. "I might think that you want us to stay stuck here."

"And if I did?" Neil replied quietly in a level voice.

Jane blinked at him, her face frozen.

Neil broke the eye contact and sighed, taking a step back. He turned to the capsules' wall and knelt down next to a panel.

"What are you doing?" Jane asked bewilderedly.

"Trying to get us moving," Neil grunted, kicking the panel violently till it fell off with a clatter revealing a bunch of wiring. "As you hate to be anywhere near me." The bitter tone was not lost on her. "Of course we may end up flying up the track and crashing into anyone else who's been suspended but what the hell!"

"Neil," Jane uttered softly and laid a hand on his shoulder. He stopped rummaging and sat back, regarding her with a tilted head. "It's…it's not like that…"

Neil abruptly got to his feet and she whipped her hand back.

"What's it like then?" he asked.

Jane averted her head so she didn't have to look at him.

"I don't know…it's all so confused…when I'm near you. It annoys me." She frowned and looked up at him.

Neil grinned that dopey smile of his that reminded her of a puppy. "I know how you feel."

The frown cleared from her face and she gave him a genuine smile.

Suddenly the capsule rocked and set off back down the tracks, jerking them so they lost their balance. Neil stepped back to steady himself but Jane fell forwards onto Neil's chest. He wrapped his arms around her as she regained her balance.

"Easy," he smiled, steadying her.

Jane narrowed her eyes when he didn't remove his arms.

"Neil," she said warningly.

He waited another moment before reluctantly removing them. "Sorry."

He didn't look at all sorry.

A second later the capsule ground to a halt in the next station.

Jane was just disembarking when a hand gripped her arm. She half turned to look at Neil who was regarding her seriously – all humour gone from his face.

"We need to talk." He saw her scared look and shook his head. "Not now." He pointed to Gray and Ryan's approaching figures.

"What took you so long?" Gray shouted across the station, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "We managed to walk here before you!"

Jane muttered something and clenched her fists but Neil just chuckled.

"C'mon," Gray's eyes suddenly turned serious, "we have a mission to the Tuckson Wastelands."


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you xboxgeek for your review.**

**Total poetic license with the flashback by the way.**

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Chapter 2: Tuckson Wastelands

They were looking for the seventh spirit – in the Tuckson Wastelands. Wonderful. Of all places to look for a spirit…why here? There was no way there was anything living out there, and in addition there was no guarantee that what they were risking their lives for was actually going to defeat the Phantoms. Of course he was in considerably less danger than the rest of the team, and it was mainly for them he was worrying. All he had to do was fly the ship but they had to go into the thick of the Phantoms and brave death for a theory.

Gently he manoeuvred the ship and let the team jump out, plus the three new ones. A small frown skittered across his face. The three newest ones jarred horribly with the team's dynamics, and he greatly resented their presence. It was obvious to him that they were spies, interference from the higher ranks. He could tell the others disliked them just as much if not more. Ryan was trying to integrate them into the group, talking to them, attempting to make things go smoother. Jane on the other hand kept her mouth firmly clamped shut, putting on her frigid demeanour towards them.

"Neil, keep her close," Captain Edwards commanded as he jumped out the ship.

"Yes sir," Neil replied as each person removed themselves from the transport and headed off across the barren landscape.

He wasn't circling around for long before he suddenly spotted the Phantoms flying away from the decoys and straight towards the Deep Eyes.

"Uh oh," Neil muttered and flicked on the intercom. "We have incoming Captain. Do you read me? We have incoming!"

What was taking them so long to get to the ship?

Neil immediately came to the conclusion that someone was hurt. His mind jumped over scenarios. Jane's image swam in front of his eyes and his hands tightened on the controls. Please not Jane. He didn't want anyone hurt of course, but Jane…

He hadn't always liked her this way. She was the tough, snippy member of the team, extra tough because of the fear that she'd be treated differently as a woman, but not rejecting her gender in spite of it. Her stance was always that she was female and just as capable of killing Phantoms as any man. It'd been a sudden revelation, his feelings towards her.

_They'd been on an average patrol mission when there were reports of a Phantom attack on a village. They had orders to search for survivors. They left the ship out in the desert like wasteland and drove into the derelict village in the jeep. _

_One boy. One little boy about two years old. He was sitting in a corner of a destroyed house, sobbing. The bodies of his parents were lying next to him where they'd fallen, spirits departed. Ryan had been the one to approach the boy and crouch next to him. He started to speak to the child and something about the seemingly tough, gentle giant, calmed the crying. The child reached out to him and he scooped him up._

_Gray nodded, "Excellent. All right, we need to get a message to Command and our jeep radio's out of range. Neil, work on the village communication system. Jane, stay here and cover him…are you okay?"_

"_Of course sir," Jane had replied promptly, though her face was pale. _

_Gray gave her a suspicious look then continued. "Ryan come with me and help me look for survivors."_

"_And the boy?"_

_Gray thought about it for a split second. "Leave him with Jane and Neil."_

_Neil felt his heart plummet and sit like a weight in his stomach. From the look on Jane's face she felt the same._

_It didn't take them long to get to the room used for communications and once there it took an even shorter time for Neil to pronounce them well and truly destroyed and that they'd have to wait till they got back to the ship. It was such a small room, with only one metal desk lining a wall covered in the equipment they used. There was no way he could fix the system with just that stuff, and he said so. _

_Jane ignored him. She was sitting eyeing the grizzling infant with considerable trepidation. It had been hiccupping away since Ryan left and was beginning to become faintly irritating._

"_Look, can't you make it laugh or something?" he asked._

"_Like how?" Jane snapped back with a snarl. A spasm of pain contorted her face. "I'm fine," she retorted before Neil could ask._

_He shrugged and continued with the original conversation._

"_Well, maybe…" He picked the kid up under its arms and lifted it to eye level. To Neil's surprise the child giggled. "Hey," he smiled, "the kid likes me."_

_Jane snorted, "Must be your goofy face."_

"_My face is not…" Neil started but was interrupted by a creaking rumble._

_Silence descended. He and Jane looked at each other, simultaneously coming to the same conclusion._

"_I think we'd better move," Neil stated and started towards the door carrying the kid. The creaking and groaning came again, louder. The room trembled._

_There was another sound above the creaking – retching. Neil turned back to see Jane on her hands and knees on the floor, throwing up._

"_Jane!" He stepped back across the room to her side. She raised a clammy, grey-white face to look at him, eyes tired._

"_Neil, I think I'm si-" _

_The rest of the sentence was cut off in a crash of collapsing rubble._

_----------_

_When the dust cleared Neil was able to assess the situation. He was kneeling on the floor, shielding the boy with his body, the suit proved to act as suitable protection. He lifted his head. The part of the room containing the door had completely collapsed. They'd been saved by two iron girders that had crossed over each other and were holding the majority of the roof up. Wreckage that had broken away littered the floor. The child was crying. Jane was laying on the floor a couple of feet away. She was conscious and moaning quietly._

_Neil crept up to her and removed his glove, pressing his hand to her forehead._

"_Ouch! You're burning up."_

"_Tell me something I don't know," she groaned, summoning up a feeble attempt at a sharp tone._

_Neil shrugged off his pack and quickly tipped the contents on the floor. He divested Jane of her suit so she'd be more comfortable and removed his own for mobility. He helped her so she was lying under the metallic desk, then he moved the teary-eyed child so he was also under the cover of the table. If the rest of the roof gave way now they'd have some protection. Gently he laid a foil, fold out blanket over Jane to help her sweat out the fever that was consuming her. She'd since lost consciousness some time during his preparations and was tossing feverishly, muttering words of nonsense – delirious. Neil ripped open a packet and laid the cold compress it contained on her flaming forehead._

_That was all he could do for her. Feeling decidedly helpless Neil sat back and tore open a food packet, then started to feed the kid and himself._

_The next few hours were a fuzzy hash of worry, panic, aching helplessness and tiredness tugging at his eyes and limbs. At some point the child fell asleep and Neil watched the sweet angelic face and felt a small pang of – what he could only assume was – fatherly affection. Quickly his attention swivelled back to Jane. The compress had dried out again so he used his water canteen to wet the material then placed it back on her forehead. She looked so…venerable. It was strange. He'd never seen Jane with her defences down before, and again he felt a small pang – though this one could not be described as fatherly affection in any way, shape or form._

"_Aww, c'mon," he muttered to himself. "No way." This was Jane. _Jane. _You didn't _like _Jane. Not in that way at any rate._

_Suddenly_ _the object of his scrutiny opened her eyes. They were glazed, wide and fearful. She gasped and tried to sit up but Neil was instantly there, easing her back and grabbing his water canteen forced the cool liquid past her cracked lips. It seemed to revive her a little._

"_What's…going on?"_

"_We're trapped under a mountain of rubble and you're ill but apart from that…"_

"_I don't…get…ill…" Jane muttered and tried to sit up again only to fall back with a groan._

"_Yeah right," Neil replied, ironically. "Just stay still."_

_There was a rumble from the roof and Neil glanced up worriedly. "I really hope that's Gray and not a beam weakening."_

_There was a sharp tug on his sleeve and he looked down to find Jane's wide eyes fixated on him. _

"_I'm scared."_

_Neil felt a jolt of shocked surprise lance through him. Jane shut her eyes and her fists tightened on his shirt. _

"_I can't…stand…being so…_helpless._"_

_With only mild hesitation Neil gathered Jane up into his arms and held her to his chest, stroking her hair. He wanted to utter comforting words but he didn't know what to say. Finally she drifted into an uneasy sleep and he laid her back down._

It had been soon after that Gray and Ryan rescued them. Those few hours spent trapped changed something inside him. Something about seeing Jane as a human, about hearing her admitting fear, caused a transformation of feelings for her. Caring for two people unable to look after themselves had twisted his perspective.

Jane for her part, though, never showed that she remembered anything she'd said.

Neil started as he saw Gray race up to the aircraft with a woman's body, there was a spark of relief when he realised it wasn't Jane, only to feel guilty for it a second later when he heard Gray's worried voice snap over the intercom to get them out of there, his tone was so urgent and sharp Neil's heart went out to him.

It was unfortunate that in that split second of distraction a Phantom had risen up and almost engulfed the ship.

"Sir, I would love to but…" he started to say.

"Just do it!"

Sighing, Neil shrugged his shoulders and loosened himself up. This was going to take considerable skill. Calmly he started to guide the ship through the canyon, ducking to avoid low flying Phantom's, attempting to ignore the shouting from the back. Suddenly a gunshot rang out and Neil jumped, jerking the controls.

"What the…?"

Bangs and thumps rocked the ship as a fight broke out. He _knew _those guys were trouble.

"That's enough! Hands where I can see them. Everyone now!" crackled over the headset.

The shadowy figure of a Phantom loomed up in front of him and he frowned. No way was he going to let an impostor shoot one of the team.

"STARBOARD!" he shouted out and jerked the ship through the evanescence. It was a risk. One of the Deep Eyes might get touched but he trusted them to trust him.

There was a crash and clatter as a body toppled to the floor. He flinched. The idea had been to great a distraction not take a life.

For a moment there was total silence then, "Neil, get us back."

---------

Neil passed through the corridors back at Barrier City. Gray had already raced off with Aki, leaving his team to get scanned and go relax. He was the first through so he stopped in the passageway and leaned against the wall, waiting. He'd come to a split second decision right there. None of them knew how long they had left, like those two dead impostors, and he wasn't going to waste any more time over this matter.

Jane approached a few moments later, striding with apparent purpose – though he couldn't for the life of him think what it could be.

"Erm…Jane…" He stood up straighter. "I need to talk to you."

"Not now Neil." She powered past him but he gripped her arm – expecting a retaliation punch – and forced her to look at him. There was a feigned annoyance in her eyes that overlay something deeper.

"Now's good," he said quietly.

The annoyance dropped and left her unshielded. Every emotion was written clearly on her face. It was fearful but he couldn't fathom of what she was afraid. Her eyes softened as she looked at his earnest face and she placed one hand over his.

"Please, not now."

The faintly pleading tone won him over and he let go of her. The fear quickly drained from her face and she gave a small smile, turning away to continue up the corridor, disappearing around the corner of a junction.

Neil stayed where he stood, staring after her in something akin to disappointment. There was a noise behind him and he half turned.

"She's not ready yet," Ryan told him. He came up to stand next to him in the corridor. "She's afraid of what might happen in the future and doesn't want to commit to anything."

"So I've got no chance," Neil stated miserably.

Ryan clapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, she knows you care, and she cares enough for you not to want anything to happen in case one of you gets hurt…or worse. You have hope so take heart." He was silent for a moment and then added. "What makes me think she definitely likes you though is that she didn't punch you when you grabbed her."

Neil sighed and rolled his eyes, just as Jane reappeared around the corner and walked quickly back up the passage towards them.

"Changed your mind?" he couldn't help smirking jokily.

Jane shot him a withering look and jerked a thumb behind her.

"We have problems," she stated joining them.

Two men in suits, carrying guns, jogged into view and pointed at them.

"There they are!" one bellowed.

"Yup. That's a definite problem," Neil quipped and spun around to see more of them closing in from the other end. Not too surprisingly his earlier conviction was pushed to the back of his mind.

"Maybe they just want to congratulate us on a good job," Neil smiled nervously.

"Oh yeah, and the Phantoms just want to be friends," Ryan drawled back.

"Surrender. Put your hands up and come quietly or we'll shoot."

"I think we should go quietly," Neil muttered as they all complied.

Jane shot him a look and he returned it with a grin.

Next thing they knew they were locked in a prison cell.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you to Falcone for your review**

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Chapter 3: The end 

"Hey, do you think we're going to make it?" The question startled her into half turning around, her eyes momentarily withdrawn from their vigilant position on the rest of the hangar, focusing on the half dopey countenance of the one she'd really begun to admire, the one she couldn't look at without feeling her insides soften.

Jane half opened her mouth to answer but was cut off as Neil continued to let loose the stream of questions he'd clearly wanted to ask for a while. There was a sort of puzzled fascination on her face as she watched his lips move unceasingly and listened to the bubbling words trip over themselves to escape. She was unable to answer them, because she wanted to know the same. Were they going to get out of this alive? Did she have a future? And could Neil be a part of that? She wanted him to be but she wasn't sure what _he _wanted.

…_I want a little Neil Junior calling me Daddy some day._

He'd said that…he'd meant that. That's why she'd been so sarcastic to him. In some strange confusion of feelings she wanted to be that person who he saw with the child and yet didn't think she wanted to submit herself so easily to being a mother.

_It's called upper body strength Neil. Get a girlfriend._

_Working on it._

She felt the internal smile somewhere around her stomach. So many connotations attached to a simple sentence. She hadn't liked to think that he had meant it for her in any way, though the recent events had made the buried hopes blossom. They'd made her realise her affections that she'd kept shut off for so long.

"Ouch!" The startled exclamation brought her down to earth with a sharp jolt. "Jane! Do you mind if we don't talk! I'm trying to concentrate here!"

Jane twisted back to her post and settled the gun. A small smile twitched around her lips. Sometimes she couldn't be sure whether he did it for effect, to amuse her, or if he truly meant it.

The noise alerted her first. Swiftly she manoeuvred the gun into position and aimed. Here came trouble. The weapon bucked as she shot at the writhing masses oozing out of the ground. There were so many of them! Where were they all coming from? Every so often the repeated reassurances came from her or Neil that she could handle it. She _was_ going to handle it. There was no choice in the matter. Everyone else's safety depended on their success here. There was a definite sigh of relief that escaped her lips when the last Phantom retreated with a scream.

"Yes!"

She turned back to Neil, a distinct smile gracing her lips as he leapt to his feet and did a minor victory dance, beckoning his hands to receive praise.

"Eh? Eh?" he gave his careless grin, bathing in her admiring looks.

Suddenly the blood drained from her face and her smile vanished. Horror seeped into her expression as she watched drill like tentacles pierce Neil's chest. The smug look was replaced by confusion as he rolled his head down to observe the life denying vines. Shock had penetrated Jane's soul. She stood frozen, helpless, as with a decisive wrench the Phantom ripped the spirit from his body and let it tumble to the floor an empty shell.

Something snapped inside as Jane watched the limp body fall. It wasn't possible…it wasn't _fair_! Snarling she lifted the gun and started to blast away at the Phantom, screaming as she did so, face contorted with rage and pain. It was retreating so the action was meaningless, she couldn't bring Neil back and she should have run for the ship, the coast was clear, but instead she continued shooting…until an empty click resounded from the gun. It took her a second to realise. _Click. Click. Click._

It was as if the Phantom could tell she was out of ammo. She saw the tentacles streaming up from the ground, and she had no way to fight back. She could try to escape but that aching weariness that had settled over her the moment the gun had stopped working refused to let her legs move.

This was the end.

It was the end for Neil and the end for her. At least they'd be together in death.

"Jane! Get out of there! Ja-"

She calmly switched the head set off and removed it, cutting off Gray's voice.

With an air of resignation Jane tilted her head in surrender and thought of Neil.

There was a cold rush as a Phantom swept through her – then nothing.


End file.
